The Fall of a Wall, a Ball, and a Mall (Berlin)

Anyone want to go ballonfahrten? Hee, hee. I laughed when I saw a huge ad for BALLONFAHRTEN!

I have to apologize for no pictures -- I am not at a place where I can upload them -- I will try later on in the week.

After almost missing my flight to Berlin (seems to be a running theme here -- what should have taken me 1 hour actually took me 2 1/2 hours), I made it here on Saturday. I had been planning to stay at a hostel and do some sightseeing on my own, but the volunteer organization I am working with next week insisted that I stay with a woman named Ute, who lives in central Berlin and volunteered to host me. She is an absolutely lovely woman (maybe 65 years old?), and she speaks English fairly well, which is a plus. :) She picked me up at the airport -- I knew who she was because she had an orange balloon with my name on it...I was hoping that she would have a car, but no such luck -- we bus-ed and train-ed it and walk-ed it to her apartment. (By the way, when someone in Germany tells you that they live on the 3rd floor, they really live on the 4th floor...they don't count the ground level. Drats.)

Ute didn't realize that I wasn't going to be tired --- I had already gotten over my jetlag by that point (see previous blog where slept until 2 pm my first day there), so she hadn't planned on doing anything that night. But it was early, so we walked to the city center, down a famous Berlin street called Kurfürstendamm. It is kind of the Rodeo Drive of Berlin, the Champs-Elysées of Berlin, the Park Avenue of Berlin. It ends at the Harrod's of Berlin, KaDeWe, the largest department store in continental Europe. Like Harrod's, it has a awesome food section, as well as a glass elevator and so many departments selling anything and everything.

Then we went back to her place for dinner -- bread and cheese.

Woke up late the next morning (Ute has given me her bedroom and she is sleeping on the pull out sofa. It makes me a little uncomfortable, but I am just going with it -- what else can I do?) and had breakfast -- bread and cheese.

We then headed out to all of the great sights Berlin has to offer -- The Jewish Museum (amazing modern architecture -- check out the link for more info), Checkpoint Charlie, The Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag and the truly amazing Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This Holocaust Memorial only opened about a year ago. It is 5 acre site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The slabs are about 8 feet long, about 3 feet wide and range in height from 8 inches to 16 feet. They are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and I felt as if I was wading into the sea, and then coming back out again. Very powerful.

Observation: It is an odd feeling to be in a Jewish Museum or site in Germany. Tons of Germans learning about Jewish history and customs, and the Holocaust. I wish I knew what they were thinking, why they came, or what they feel. I guess I am glad that they are there, but I can't help but feel strange hearing the German language all around me while looking at pieces of the Jewish past, or monuments to the "time of horror", as Ute calls it. I wonder how it will be in Poland.

Something else interesting about Berlin is the contrast between old and new -- I think that the city is really trying to define itself as a modern architecture capital -- and the modern buildings that I saw were impressive.

Weather Update -- I am freezing my buns off. Saturday had a high of 57 degrees! I don't know what I was thinking when I was packing. It's almost a good thing I am not posting pictures this blog because you would be grossed out that I am wearing the same thing every day. I had to buy a fleece scarf (can you imagine, Texans?) b/c it is so cold. Which, by the way, was no easy task because shops are closed on Sunday and today is some other holiday-- something Pentecostal?

Ute and I headed back to the apartment around dinnertime -- for, you guessed it, bread and cheese. We watched a bit of the French Open (sports are pretty much the same in any language), some CNN International and then I headed to bed.

Slept late again Monday morning (I sure hope Ute doesn't think I am being rude! But I am on vacation after all...). After breakfast/lunch (bread and cheese, of course) we went to the Pergamon Museum, which houses the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate, among other things. Very cool stuff, I have to say. Admission even came with a free audio guide, which was helfpul.

So, then, here I am sitting at the easyinternetcafe next to the Dunkin Donuts next to the Zoo S-Bahn stop. It is nice to sit down, and to be alone for a bit. Ute has been a truly wonderful guide and it has been great getting to see everything, and not having to worry about directions or getting on the right train or bus, but I am glad to be sitting at a computer "talking" to someone else. The thing about being in a city for just a few days is that there isn't a lot of down time, because you never know when you will be there again and you want to do as much as possible. But on the other hand, how many museums and cathedrals and churches can one person take in a week? Traveling can be rewarding, but not because it is easy.

Tomorrow I get up at 5 am to make a 7am train to Warsaw. Ute and I will travel with 5 other volunteers, and the journey to Warsaw will last about 5 hours. Once there, we change trains to Zamosc , and then I am not exactly sure how we are getting to the place where we are staying, but I am sure it will work out. I am looking forward to being in Poland and traveling there and volunteering there. Even though it will be cold. :)

One more thing. Some of you might know that Germany is hosting the Soccer World Cup this year. It's a really big deal. Like, huge. The first game is on Friday, and the games take place all over the country. You can't look anywhere without being reminded that the games are going on -- even right in front of the Brandenburg Gate there is a huge three-story soccer ball interactive display. There is soccer stuff for sale everywhere, and it's on the news and all commercials, in the store windows -- there are even topiaries shaped like soccer balls in the street medians! Germany certainly has soccer-fever, and I am glad I am heading out of town before it all really starts!

Write soon, and thanks for the comments. I love to get them...

Sara

P.S. I told Ute that I would eat dinner before I returned to her flat...she insisted that I eat at her place -- but I think I will turn into bread and cheese if I eat it one more time. :)

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